Denouncing Republican "bluster" about war with Iran, President Obama went on the offensive Tuesday:
"Those who are ... beating the drums of war should explain clearly to the American people what they think the costs and benefits would be."
The president had in mind such remarks as those Newt Gingrich delivered to the Israeli lobby AIPAC that same day: "The red line is now ... because the Iranians are deepening their commitment to nuclear weapons"—an assertion the Joint Chiefs and U.S. intelligence agencies say is blatantly false.
They insist: Iran has not made the decision to build a bomb.
Perhaps the president was referring to Mitt Romney's pledge to that same cheering throng to "station multiple carriers and warships at Iran's door" and deny Tehran even "the capacity to make a bomb."
Most Republicans seem to be lining up with Newt, Mitt and Rick on a more hawkish stance. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell wants Congress to vote the president a blank check for war now. And the president is aware of and alarmed by the Republican stampede to war:
"The notion that the way to solve every one of these problems is to deploy our military—that hasn't been true in the past and it won't be true now. ... Sometimes, it's necessary, but we don't do it casually. ... We think it through. We don't play politics with it."
But if "the capacity to make a bomb" means knowledge of how to build one and an ability to enrich uranium to bomb-grade, should they decide to do so, Iran already has that.
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